Many companies and other organizations operate computer networks that interconnect numerous computing systems to support their operations, such as with the computing systems being co-located (e.g., as part of a local network) or instead located in multiple distinct geographical locations (e.g., connected via one or more private or public intermediate networks). For example, data centers housing significant numbers of interconnected computing systems have become commonplace, such as private data centers that are operated by and on behalf of a single organization, and public data centers that are operated by entities as businesses to provide computing resources to customers. Some public data center operators provide network access, power, and secure installation facilities for hardware owned by various customers, while other public data center operators provide “full service” facilities that also include hardware resources made available for use by their customers. However, as the scale and scope of data centers has increased, the tasks of provisioning, administering, and managing the physical computing resources have become increasingly complicated.
For example, increasing amounts of potentially sensitive information are stored on storage devices housed in data centers or other locations. In many instances, customers of a data storage service, such as a data center, rely on the data storage service to protect the customer's data from unauthorized access. Additionally, a risk data storage services face is a malefactor, such as a rogue employee or intruder, physically removing or accessing storage devices storing a customer's data. In order to reduce such a risk, some data storage services may have systems and policies in place to prevent unauthorized access to data storage devices mounted in rack computing systems. However, these systems and policies may leave data storage devices vulnerable to unauthorized access when the data storage devices are being transported within a facility, such as a data center.
While embodiments are described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that embodiments are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit embodiments to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include,” “including,” and “includes” mean including, but not limited to.